Daily Deals: Did you know that the innocuous words reveal a lot about us? That’s what our top deal claims.

The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us by James W. Pennebaker. $ 2.99

From the Jacket Copy:

In The Secret Life of Pronouns, social psychologist and language expert James W. Pennebaker uses his groundbreaking research in computational linguistics-in essence, counting the frequency of words we use-to show that our language carries secrets about our feelings, our self-concept, and our social intelligence. Our most forgettable words, such as pronouns and prepositions, can be the most revealing: their patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints.

Using innovative analytic techniques, Pennebaker X-rays everything from John McCain’s tweets to the Federalist Papers. Who would have predicted that the high school student who uses too many verbs in her college admissions essay is likely to make lower grades in college? Or that a world leader’s use of pronouns could reliably presage whether he will lead his country into war? You’ll learn what Lady Gaga and William Butler Yeats have in common, and how Ebenezer Scrooge’s syntax hints at his self-deception and repressed emotion in this sprightly, surprising tour of what our words are saying-whether we mean them to or not.

I’m buying this in both the digital and audio form. It seems like the perfect thing to listen to while I’m traveling. Besides, I’m looking for the next non fiction book after The Power of Habit to rock my world. This could be it. Then the poor DA readers will have to listen to me spout off about it for years. The Power of Habit people!

Sandra Brown, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, keeps readers turning pages with an explosive tale of a long-ago crime and the victim’s plan for revenge…When New York publisher Maris Matherly Reed receives a tantalizing manuscript from someone identified only as P.M.E., its blockbuster potential-and perhaps something else-compels her to meet its author. On an eerie, ruined cotton plantation on a remote Georgia island she finds Parker Evans, a man concealing his identity and his past. Maris is drawn into his tale of two young friends and a deadly betrayal … and to Parker himself. But there’s something especially chilling about this novel, its possible connection to Maris’s own life, and the real-life character who uses her, or anyone, to get what he wants.

Says PW “Gutsy, idealistic, deliciously sexy, Maris is married to philandering sociopath Noah Reed, who runs Matherly Press with Maris and her father, Daniel, last of the silver-maned gentleman publishers. As for P(arker) M(ackensie) E(vans), he’s a bitter, wheelchair-bound, first-time novelist or is he? Is he using Maris to avenge himself against Noah, or does he love her madly or can the answer be all of the above? Cutting back and forth between the ?bernovel and Parker’s autobiographical novel about a purloined novel, Brown stages one dramatic scene after another. The narrative voices don’t change much (although the typefaces do), but Brown’s loyal legions frankly won’t give a damn”

Much to his family’s displeasure, Michael Hartford pens popular Western paperbacks. But despite his cowboy image, he’s more Central Park West than Wild West. With a major photo shoot coming up, he’ll need to be a cowboy—not just look like one! And Michael has only a week at the Last Chance Ranch to get the giddy-up in his game….

After a girl-fight scandal, socialite-turned-housekeeper Keri Fitzpatrick is cheerily unrepentant as she waits for the dust to settle. It’s not long before she discovers Michael’s secret and a whole lot of similarities…including an irresistible temptation to play Naughty Naked Cowboy!

But does this scrappy socialite have what it takes to ensure her would-be cowboy is both saddle sore and satisfied?

Does it feel like there is a Western theme today? A male author of westerns? I kind of like the hook here.

“Welcome to Westen. I’m Lorna Doone. Yep, spelled just like the cookie and I own the Peaches ‘N Cream Café here in Weston. You might think nothing much happens in a small mid-western town, but as my friend Harriett says, things aren’t always what they appear. Take our girl Emma for example…”

Emma Lewis has a lot on her plate. The single mother of two precocious twin boys and an aging mother who is having trouble getting through each day, the last thing Emma needs is a man in her life, especially a doctor. So when the town’s doctor goes on vacation and his handsome nephew takes over, Emma is shocked to not only find him standing in her bedroom, but accusing her of being a neglectful parent.

Clint Preston came to Westen for the year to fill in as the town doc while his uncle took a long needed vacation. Clint also needed a sense of peace and calm to try to find his passion for medicine burned out by long shifts in an urban hospital’s ER. Angered to find two boys in his clinic with broken wrists and no accompanying parent, he is determined to confront their mother. The feisty redhead he meets quickly dispels his belief that she’s a neglectful mother, but he can see her situation is more critical than she wishes to face and finds himself volunteering to help care for her sons and the remodeling of her home.

As Emma and Clint forge a relationship among the slightly off-beat characters that inhabit Westen a menace from Emma’s past threatens her and her sons. Clint and Emma join forces to prevent the loss of either boy and the love they’ve discovered in each other’s’ arms.

Hey, look, a self published book that is not a New Adult. I had heard that there were these out there but hadn’t encountered them. Just kidding. Kim P sent this to me. She said she hadn’t read it but that there were positive reviews on Amazon. Of course, I head to the three star and under reviews. The 3 stars suggest that it is Little House on the Prairie in adult form and that the story was predictable.

The one star review said that the book was filled with errors and the reviewer gave an example that the author used “the Miller twins”. instead of “the Miller twins.” I don’t think that would be a deal breaker for me.

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Jane Litte is the founder of Dear Author, a lawyer, and a lover of pencil skirts. She self publishes NA and contemporaries (and publishes with Berkley and Montlake) and spends her downtime reading romances and writing about them. Her TBR pile is much larger than the one shown in the picture and not as pretty.
You can reach Jane by email at jane @ dearauthor dot com

Comments

The one star review said that the book was filled with errors and the reviewer gave an example that the author used “the Miller twins”. instead of “the Miller twins.” I don’t think that would be a deal breaker for me.

It’s not so much that it’s wrong as that it’s not the preferred American style. If it’s done consistently that way throughout the book, it could just be that the author is British.

I actually just sat here for a solid minute trying to find the difference between “the Miller twins”. and “the Miller twins.” Apparently this would not even pop up on my radar as an error I should be concerned about

I don’t mind reviews that mention “mistakes” as long as they cite specific examples, so you can tell if the mistake is real or merely a matter of when or where you went to school. I can’t stand it when there is one and only one review complaining about mistakes without ever saying what they are. I know British/American differences in grammar can trip me up sometimes, especially using “which” instead of “that” even for essential clauses.

I have to say I am in love the the title THE SECRET LIFE OF PRONOUNS. Sheer genius!

Warning on the pronoun book (at least my Kindle version): the e-formatting isn’t great. There are examples given that, based on the surrounding text, are expected to have certain words highlighted. But the e-version has no highlights.

So I read something like: “As the highlighted words in the example show…” and then there are no highlighted words.

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